


Jessley Oneshots

by chasemclean



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-03-23 23:46:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13798872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasemclean/pseuds/chasemclean
Summary: There's a huge range to what these one shots will include, some of them are based on facts from the film, some of them have backstories that I have made for Jessica and Ashley, so you'll just have to see, I guess!





	1. Kiddie Reunion

Every couple of months, the Bellas would schedule a time to meet up and this time it was going to be at Beca and Chloe’s place. Jessica had just finished packing the twin’s backpacks and slung one over each shoulder before heading out to the living room where Ashley was finishing up getting the boys ready. The twins weren’t technically identical, but they looked the same until you looked closely. The way that Jessica and Ashley told them apart was by their eyes, Kai had incredibly light blue, huskey like eyes while one of Rhys’ was green and one of them was amber… nope, Jessica and Ashley didn’t know how their kids ended up with those eyes either. They had mousey blonde hair that culminated in a lick across their foreheads and extraordinarily long eyelashes.  
“Did you manage to pack their trunks?” Ashley asked, half way through sliding flip flops onto Kai’s tiny four year old feet. “Yah, Rhys has the green ones, Kai has the blue ones.” This was another method. Rhys always had the green stuff, Kai always had the blue, eye colour seemed to determine a lot of things when it came to the twins.  
There was huge differences between the two, however. Kai seemed to have taken on most of Jessica’s characteristics, he was hopelessly clumsy but also incredibly bouncy and energetic, he had been enrolled in dance and soccer in the hope that it’d tire hip out, but nope, that kid could run a marathon and want to go back round for another lap. Rhys on the other hand was much more of a chilled out kid, he did art classes and drama and would happily sit at the counter with a box of crayons and just draw for the day, he took after Ashley in that department. The only hobby that the kids shared was modelling. Jessica and Ashley never wanted to be those moms that push their kids to model, so they never put them forward, but they were at Beca and Chloe’s one time when Beca’s agent showed up and insisted that they let him put them on a shortlist for album covers and music videos and the like. The main attraction of the terrible twosome, apparently, was their eyes. Those eyes, they were going to get them into trouble one day.  
“Ok then, it looks like we’re ready to go!” Ashley said, hoisting Kai up on top of her shoulders when he reached. Jessica, in turn, offered a hand to Rhys, who took it and was happily lead out of the door towards the car.  
They pulled up to Beca and Chloe’s house, quickly unbuckling the twins before Kai exploded. He rushed up to the door, tripping over and then jumping back up again, carrying on without even pausing. Rhys happily padded along a couple of metres behind his brother. He wasn’t quiet kid, far from it, he was just a lot more calm than the others. Chloe opened the door and bent down to high five both kids. She was definitely a kid person. “Hey there, you two!” She squeaked, hugging Jessica and Ashley at the same time. “Hey, Chloe!” They both said… they had to stop doing that. Ashley handed over the bottles of wine that they had brought and Chloe pointed them through to the back yard, promising that she’d follow on in a minute.  
It looked like they were the last ones to arrive, already there was Aubrey with Bella and a fairly pregnant Stacie, Amy, Benji and Emily and finally Beca with her and Chloe’s daughter, April. Cynthia Rose was on deployment with the military, Lily was doing the styling for her boyfriend, DJ’s tour and Flo was on her honeymoon with her husband, Miguel.  
Since the USO tour, Stacie and Aubrey had gotten a lot closer, and one thing had lead to another. Nobody saw it coming, not even Amy. “How have you two been getting on with the modelling jobs for the boys?” Aubrey asked, lying back on one of the poolside loungers. “Well, yeah really well. They get jobs together most of the time, I think mainly because they only really like doing it together.” Jessica replied. Aubrey, Jessica, Emily and Benji were all on the sunbeds, watching Stacie, Chloe and Ashley in the pool with the kids while Beca and Amy took care of the barbeque. “I remember Bella doing it when she was little but she absolutely hated it, much to Stacie’s disappointment!” Aubrey laughed. Jessica remembered, it was one of the reasons that Jessica and Ashley never wanted the boys to do it. “I think it must have been because she didn’t like doing it on her own.” Aubrey said, gazing towards her wife and step daughter. Bella had long brown hair that dropped down to her waist and long legs, like her mom.  
“How’s it going in the Posen household?” Jessica turned her head so that she was looking at Aubrey, squinting at the sun in her eyes. “Well, really well.” Aubrey and Stacie had decided to have another kid, Bella had always been raised to know that Aubrey was her step mom, not her mom, Aubrey’s choice. She treated Bella like her own, but Stacie and Aubrey had always known that Bella wanted a sibling. “We found out the gender of the baby the other day,” Aubrey was swiping through her phone for a picture of the ultrasound. Jessica smiled when Aubrey showed her, she couldn’t help but think of how much Aubrey had softened over the years. “A boy?” Aubrey nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve been given strict orders not to go all midwife mode in the delivery room, though.” Aubrey said, tossing her phone gently under the bed. For a short time Aubrey became a doula, but then she realised that she didn’t want to live in the mountains, so she trained as a midwife instead. “I can’t blame her! Trust me, childbirth is painful and there’s nothing worse than someone rattling off facts in the corner!” Jessica was laughing. She loved the twins but never again would she go through that horror show.  
“What about you, Em? Any baby on the horizon?” Aubrey said, startling both Emily and Benji. There was a chorus of confused babble from the two of them before Aubrey and Jessica got their answer of “Not right now.” Somewhere in the chaos of their babbles. They were completely made for each other. “Busy with the shows?” Both Emily and Benji had gone on to be involved with Broadway. Emily was one of the writers and musical directors for the new Mean Girls musical and Benji was still starring as the title role in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’. “Yeah, I have four months left on my run and then I imagine that this one is going to be busy for a while.” Benji replied, blinking, stuttering and speaking with his hands. For someone in the public eye, Benji was incredibly and adorably awkward. “Well at least you two have the wedding to come!” Jessica was more excited than she’d like to let on for their wedding, she was a sucker for a good love story and two months ago, Benji and Emily had gotten engaged after a Darcy Oake show.  
“CANNONBALL!” the four of them felt a light spray of water when Kai hit the water of the pool. Jessica shot up in the sunbed in time to see her son emerge from the water, giggling. The kid was so mischievous but so cute which made it almost impossible to tell him off. “Their eyes are just mesmerising.” Aubrey whispered, so that the kids wouldn’t hear. “We still don’t know how it happened!” Jessica put her fingers to her temples. “We know that Rhys has heterochromia iridium but that runs in my family, the colours are still a mystery, but we promise that they’re not colour contacts!”  
Chloe, Stacie and Ashley were all in the pool messing around with the kids, Stacie was mainly just there to watch, seeing as she was fairly pregnant but Chloe and Ashley were having a fantastic time, throwing the kids off the diving boards, (don’t worry, the lower two, the they weren’t complete monsters). Every time she was thrown off, Bella managed to turn her fall into a dive, Rhys entered the water smoothly and sharply, April’s go to was to do some sort of gym move like a straddle or a pike mid air and Kai… Kai was just Kai, he hit the water in either a cannonball or a general splat.  
Half an hour later, Beca yelled that the food was ready and the kids jumped out of the water. Ashley anticipated that Kai and Rhys were going to climb out of the pool, next to each other and was ready for it with her camera, she snapped a shot of the two of them running towards the table, their hair spiked up with manic grins on their face. The kids gathered around the end of their table and ripped straight into the food. “Awh, cute.” Amy smiled.


	2. It's-A-Go-Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Years day, Jessica's birthday and Ashley has a surprise for her. (This one is genuinely really short)

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR” there was a shout from the crowd. Ashley turned to Jessica and kissed her. “Happy birthday, baby.” She smiled. Jessica threw her arms around Ashley and buried her face into her jacket before pulling back to look her in the eyes. “I love you, happy new year.” Jessica flashed her trademark smile.   
“I got you a little something.” Ashley pulled off her gloves and reached into her pocket, pulling out an envelope, pausing for a second, before handing it over to Jessica, who graciously received it with a playful curtsey. She opened it up before pulling out two little pieces of card. They were two tickets to see Kinky Boots on Broadway. “Ashley! Thank you so much!!” Jessica squealed, almost tackling Ashley to the ground, which would have been unfortunate because the snow was no longer snow, it was wet brown slush. Ashley steadied herself and twirled Jessica round a little. “I know how long you’ve been wanting to go and see it.” She said, laughing. “Oh there’s one more thing.” Jessica’s face was a master of confusion. “What? What more could you possibly get me?” Jessica had no idea.  
Ashley pretended to rummage round in her pocket before she found what she was looking for, a wrapped box with a bow. It took Jessica a little while to open it, partly because Ashley had gone over the top with the tape and partly because her fingers were little blocks of ice. Ashley bobbed up and down in suspense. Jessica pulled out a plain cardboard box, giving Ashley a playful side eye before closing her eyes and reaching blindly inside the box, pulling out some tube like thing. She opened her eyes. It was a pregnancy test… with a plus sign…  
“You’re…” Jessica was lost for words. Ashley nodded slowly, gaining speed as she saw the smile growing on Jessica’s face after she had recovered from the original shock. They had been going through the process for months, now and they knew it would happen eventually so when Ashley got the inkling she decided to keep the positive result a surprise for Jessica’s birthday. “EEEEK!” this time, Jessica actually did tackle Ashley to the ground (unintentionally) and they landed in the grass with a little splash. The two of them were too preoccupied to notice that the water was slowly seeping into their clothes. “I love you.” Ashley whispered, kissing her wife. “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”


	3. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bellas are moving into their house at Barden but as usual, their is two of them that they have forgotten about.

Chloe bounded through the door. “Right, that’s the last one of my boxes which means were all good to go!” The Bellas had decided to move in together, sort of like a sorority but not anything like a sorority. “Wait, Chloe, there’s nine of us and there’s seven rooms.” Beca said, sitting on the sofa with her laptop. “Oh, yah, I know. Four of us will have to share.” There was a murmur among the Bellas. “Amy hardly sleeps in the house, she’s always at Bumper’s-” Beca started before Amy jumped up from behind the kitchen counter “Erm, what no, I just go out for smoothies a lot.” She was doing a bad job of acting innocent. “Ok then, Amy, the point is, you never seemed to be in your dorm.” Amy rolled her arm forward to signal that she accepted this statement. “So I could bunk with Amy if that’s ok with her.” Beca said, pulling her headphones off from round her neck and shutting the lid on her macbook. “Yeah, cool with me.” Amy shrugged, pulling a bag of almonds out from the newly stocked cupboards and tossing a couple into her mouth. “There it is, then. Sorted.” Chloe smiled. 

They had forgotten that two more people needed to share but that wasn’t really an issue. Jessica and Ashley had already moved their boxes into one of the two medium sized rooms. They made their way up to their room, gently shutting the door behind them so that they could unpack without the noise of all the others rushing upstairs with their boxes. “You taking left or right?” Ashley asked, setting her box down in the middle of the room. “I’ll go left.” Jessica smiled, using her shins to move one of the bed frames over to the left side of the room.   
Over the course of the day, Jessica and Ashley helped each other set up their room. There was a double bed on each side of the room with a set of shelves in the middle of the room, two bedside tables, a chest of drawers each and a cute little rug covering the coffee stain on the carpet. The two stood back and looked at their handy work. “I don’t think you’re going to get much use out of you side.” Ashley grinned, nudging Jessica with her shoulder. “Nope.” Jessica replied, supressing a grin.


	4. Sweet Home Louisiana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley is going back home to Louisiana and this time, Jessica is joining her. (I'm running with the idea that Ashley was just born in Middleton and then moved to Louisiana)

Ashley was born in New Jersey, but she was raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Her mom had been on a business trip when she went into early labour but Ashley had always considered herself to be from Louisiana. Jessica was driving the last stretch of their seven hour journey back to Baton Rouge. She looked over at Ashley who was fast asleep next to her in the passenger seat. It was the summer and therefore very hot. All of the windows were open and the two of them were kitted out in cotton shorts and tank tops.   
Eventually Jessica pulled up to Ashley’s parent’s house and flipped off the sat nav. Ashley conveniently woke up at that point, probably due to the fact that they had stopped moving. “Hey.” Jessica said, taking off her sunglasses and reaching over to shove them in the glove box, resting her hands on the steering wheel. Ashley rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times, turning to look at Jessica. “We’re here?” Jessica nodded and pulled her curls into a bun on top of her head. “Come on then.”  
The two of them climbed out of their car and moved round to the back of their car, grabbing their bags and heading towards the door. Jessica raised her hand to knock but Ashley gently stopped her before just pushing the unlocked door open. “Mom, dad!” she yelled, dumping her bag by the door. Before they knew it, Ashley’s mom rushed out from the kitchen. “Ashley! Hi, honey!” Ashley’s mom was fairly small, around the same height as Beca. This did not, however, effect her ability to envelop Ashley in the most smothering hug that Jessica had ever witnessed. Jessica almost had the wind crushed out of her when she also received an incredibly unexpected hug from the woman. “You must be Jessica, it’s lovely to meet you!” Ashley’s mom fussed. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs Jones.” Jessica said, recovering from the shock. “Oh, please, Arlene. Ashley, your dad is just out getting some groceries, he’ll be back later.” Ashley grabbed the bags up from where she had left them. “That’s fine, I’ll jog these upstairs.”  
That night, Ashley introduced Jessica to her dad, they had their dinner and talked chatted about the usual, life at Barden, interests, how they met and the Bellas. After they’d had dinner, Ashley’s mom suggested that the two of them went out for the night, that Ashley showed Jessica round the town. The two of them were in Ashley’s room getting ready for a low key night out. At seven, they hopped into Ashley’s dad’s pick up and set off. “Where are we actually going?” Jessica asked Ashley who was being all edge and mysterious. “You’ll see.”  
Ten minutes later, Ashley pulled up at a river bank. “Mississippi river.” Ashley said, jabbing a thumb behind her. Jessica turned around in her seat to look at the water. “Hop in the back.” Seeing as they were in a pickup truck, the back was open. Jessica got out of the car and walked round to see that the back of the truck had been set up with camping mattresses, cushions and blankets. Ashley followed on with a picnic basket. “I thought that we could chill in here with a picnic and maybe watch the sunset.” Ashley shrugged as if it wasn’t a huge romantic gesture. “Ashley… that’s so sweet!” Jessica ran over and pecked her girlfriend on the lips, making eye contact before grabbing the picnic basket and jumping over the side of the pickup onto the pile of cushions.   
Three hours later, the sun was setting. Ashley poured the champagne into two flutes, handing one of them to Jessica. “We should come to Baton Rouge more often.” Jessica hummed as she klinked her glass against Ashley’s. “I’m glad you like it.” Ashley sighed, blissfully, gazing out at the beautiful sunset before them.


	5. Bar Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bellas drag Jessica and Ashley out to a club... it's an accident waiting to happen.

Jessica and Ashley had decided to go out, they very rarely did, but when Chloe suggested that they all went to a local club, they went along with it. Ashley was one of the best dancers in the Bellas, she and Stacie usually co-choreographed the dance routines, so needless to say, she was more than impressive on the dance floor. After the last note of ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ rang out, Ashley took Jessica’s hand and lead her over to one of the sofas in the corner of the club.   
This was what they usually tended to do on a night out. As Jessica and Ashley were a couple, neither of them were on the pull (unlike the other Bellas) so now and again, they’d retreat to the side lines to have a breather. “Fancy a drink?” Jessica asked as Ashley sat down. The club was very warm and Ashley was particularly worn out after that spell of dancing. “Ooh, I’ll have a lime and soda please, want me to come with you?” She asked, beginning to stand up. “Nah, it’s ok, I’ll be back in a sec!” Jessica beamed, her sunny personality shining through.   
Ashley watched as Jessica made her way over to the bar. Once there, she rested her arms on the bar, using them to support the rest of her body while she lifted up her legs. One thing about Jessica was that she could never stand still. Apparently she had had some sort of hyperactivity disorder when she was a kid and still took medication for it.   
“A lime and soda and a cranberry juice please.” She said to the bartender with a smile, reaching into her jean pocket for her money, handing it over as quickly as she could. Jessica was a waitress at one of the local coffee shops, and she hated it when people fumbled around for ages trying to piece together loose change to pay. She handed over a ten dollar bill and told the bartender to throw the change in the tips bucket. “Pretty generous.” She heard someone say. As she looked to her left, she located the source of the voice, a guy with a black quiff and a tan complexion. “Oh, well, he was very nice.” Jessica said, pushing a loose bit of hair behind her ear. The guy shuffled a little closer, pushing his vodka lemonade along with him. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you my number.” The guy said, whipping out a pen and starting to write on a napkin. “Oh, no sorry, I’m with someone.” Jessica apologised. “I don’t think it matters, clearly you’re due for an upgrade.” And with that, the guy made a move on Jessica.   
Ashley had watched the scene unfold from the couch. When the guy started writing on the napkin, she decided that she needed to investigate. She pretended not to know Jessica as she leant up by the bar on her right side. Just as the guy made a move, Jessica stepped back. “Woah, dude, not cool!” she said as the bar man put her drinks in front of her, she nodded her appreciation. “Come on, baby, I’m sure he isn’t that great!” The guy said, leaning forwards again. With that, Ashley put herself in between the guy and Jessica. “Actually she is.” And with that, Ashley punched the guy straight in the jaw. He stumbled, taken aback by the fact that this girl had just smacked him! “What is your problem?!” He yelled, touching his hand tentatively to his wounded jaw. “You are.” Ashley said, staring down the guy. He walked back towards Jessica and attempted to finish writing his number. Ashley didn’t give him the chance, she pulled him back from the bar and grabbed his drink, throwing it all over him. “Get the message.” Ashley smiled sweetly, dragging a giggling Jessica away with their drinks.   
“What happened then?” A confused Aubrey said to Amy “Ashley just smacked a guy down and threw his drink on him.” Amy replied, nodding towards the bar. “Oh, ok.”


	6. The Reason Jessica Is Bouncy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica has always been bouncy and there is definitely a reason why. (Trigger warning in notes).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Hyperactivity disorders. I do realise that not every bouncy kid has ADHD or some other type of hyperactivity disorder, it wasn't written to hurt or offend :)  
> (Also, sorry if I don't get all of the healthcare stuff right)

1999  
“So, Mrs Smith, your daughter had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder also known as ADHD.” The doctor said, pointing at the test results that had been printed off. “Does that explain the bounciness?” Jessica’s mom asked, looking over at her daughter. “Yes, it will do. Also the fidgeting and what the teachers have been perceiving as poor behaviour. None of it is her fault and couldn’t have been helped.” The doctor replied, nodding to the little girl who was sitting just outside the office. “Is there anything that you can do to help it, obviously I’ll support her in any way that I can.” Jessica’s mom said. She was relieved in a way. “Oh yes, I’ll start her on a daily pill programme that should help her keep it under control, but not supressed. She’ll still have the hyperactivity and the fidgeting, just at a lower level. There is also some classroom toys that I can give her that she can fiddle with without disturbing anyone else in the classroom, it should keep her occupied and more focused.”  
2012  
Jessica and Ashley had been roommates for the entire year. Ashley had always known that Jessica had ADHD, she was an open book. Jessica kept her pills on the bedside table and Ashley always helped to remind her to take them. Jessica’s hyperactivity was always perceived as bounciness and she just got on with it, really. Unfortunately she had her clumsy moments because of it, but there was nothing really substantial that affected her.   
Ashley noticed the empty bottle on the table. “Jessica?” she called, picking it up and placing it back down after confirming that there was no pills in there. Ashley checked the bathroom for a sign of her best friend, she wasn’t there. Ashley grabbed the bottle and her coat, jogging down the corridor for any sign of her best friend. She knew where to check.   
Ashley walked across the quad to the sports department. They had a huge track on campus and just like Ashley had thought, Jessica was running laps around it, dressed in yoga tights and a sports crop top. Jessica spotted Ashley and when she came around the corner of the track, she ran over and pulled her headphones out, hitting pause on her ipod. Ashley pulled the empty bottle out of her pocket and rattled it. “I ran out, only realised this morning.” Jessica said as an explanation, taking the bottle of water that Ashley was handing her. Jessica had found that any sort of cardio tended to wear her out so that she had the energy levels of someone without ADHD. Dance and running had been her thing and since it was too early for the dance studios to be open, running it was. “I meant to pop down to the pharmacy and pick up my prescription but I forgot.” She said, shrugging her shoulders. “Tell you what, go get a shower, get ready for class and I’ll go and pick it up.” Ashley said, pocketing the bottle. “You’re an angel!” Jessica smiled, pecking her friend on the cheek. “I’m just going to do a couple more laps.”  
Ashley walked up to the counter of the pharmacy and was greeted by a lovely lady called Maria. “What can I do for you today?” Maria asked, looking up brightly from her computer. “I’m here to pick up a prescription, for Jessica Smith.” Maria typed a little at her computer and brought up Jessica’s profile. “A months worth of daily dosages of adderall?” she asked. “That’s the ticket.” Ashley replied. “She was supposed to pick it up yesterday, is there something the matter?” Maria asked as she walked over to the prescription bags to find the one with Jessica’s name on it. “She just forgot, I’m her roommate, found her this morning literally doing laps of the university track!” Ashley laughed, gratefully accepting the bag off of Maria. “I can hardly blame her, poor thing! Now, I understand that her mother has a direct monthly payment, so you’re good to go!” Maria said, laying her hands on the desk. “Thank you for all of your help, have a nice day!” Ashley smiled as she left the pharmacy.  
On the way home, Ashley dropped into Starbucks to grab a muffin and a coffee for each of them (Jessica’s was decaf). When Ashley got back to their room, she put Jessica’s coffee, muffin and medication on the bedside table. Soon enough, Jessica came out of the bathroom with wet hair, in her dressing gown, having just had a shower. “Ah, great!” she spotted the contents of her table. “Decaf?” Ashley nodded. Jessica smiled. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said as she plonked herself on the bed and shook one of the pills out of the bottle, using the coffee to down it. “Right, from now on, I’m going to pick up your prescription so that you don’t forget.” Ashley said, nodding her head towards the medication, Jessica agreed that this was a good idea and a routine was set. 

A Month Later  
The Bellas were sat around, doing their confessions, trying to ignore the pile of sick behind them. “Jessica, Ashley, what about you two?” Beca asked, looking at the girls that had stayed in the background for the majority of the year. Weirdly, Jessica was quite proud that she had managed to stay in the background, she had spent her whole life being the first kid that teachers noticed, the kid that supplies kicked out of the classroom for being disruptive, the one that stuck out for all of the wrong reasons. Going unnoticed was somewhat of an accomplishment. “Well, I have ADHD.” Jessica said, shrugging her shoulders. There was a confused look from most of the Bellas. “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s why I’m so bouncy, can’t sit still.” As soon as she said it, the Bellas all clicked. It certainly explained it all, the bounciness, the constant energy, that stress ball that she was always messing around with. “Is that why you’re always so smiley and bubbly?” Chloe asked with genuine interest. “No, not really. When you have ADHD as an adult, it can often lead to personality disorders, I was always determined not to have one, so if I’m perpetually happy and nice, it’ll turn into learned behaviour… hopefully.” Jessica sighed. It was one of the worries that she had always had.   
“Ok then, Ashley, you’re up.” Beca said, moving on from the subject. “Ah, mines not as major but I’m, uh, I’m gay.” She said, raising her hands in the air, shrugging for a second before bringing them down to rest on her knees. 

The Next Year  
“Let’s go with Titanium, David Guetta.” Beca said, twiddling the pen around in her fingers. They had won the ICCAs and it was audition day. Ashley looked over at Jessica, who was sat in front of her, to the right. She was bouncing her knee up and down and wringing her hands together, not unusual behaviour. First up was a guy, he was talented, but obviously, couldn’t be accepted into the Bellas. “Man, he’s really good!” Jessica said, half way through his performance, the guy didn’t seem to notice but the Trebles did, Benji giving Jessica a smile. Everybody in the acapella community knew that Jessica had ADHD, so they cut her a lot of slack when it came to stuff like this.   
It was nearing the end of the auditions and there was only about five people to go. They had been sitting there, listening to the same song for just under two hours and apart from getting up once to stretch her legs, Jessica hadn’t fidgeted much at all, she wanted to make a good impression on the candidates, whether they were going to be accepted into the Bellas or not.   
A girl walked onto the stage, she was fairly short with dyed peach pink hair and immaculate makeup. She started to sing. She was half decent, overly confident, but Jessica always saw the heightened best in people. “Guys, I think we have a contender!” she said loudly, earning a stare from the girl. She carried on singing and a couple of seconds later Jessica leaned over to Ashley and said “I can’t wait to see what she does with this high note, it’s my favourite part!” The girl stopped singing. Jessica turned around to look at her. “Are you going to talk all the way through my performance?” the girl said, crossing her arms and dropping one hip, an angry look on her face. “Oh, sorry, I’m really sorry.” Jessica said, shrinking down in her chair. “No, seriously though, would you prefer it if I just stopped?” the girl was getting increasingly aggressive. “Dude, she said she was sorry, carry on.” Jesse piped up from where the Trebles were sat. “Hey, keep out of this, Mr Man, this isn’t you issue.” The girl shot Jesse a withering look. “So what is it to be?” she practically yelled, staring down Jessica. 

Jessica couldn’t take it, she rushed out of the room, leaving everyone else behind her. “Get out.” Ashley said to the girl, pointing towards the wings. “No, why should I?” the girl said, standing her ground. “Get out or we’ll force you out, you’re not welcome.” Beca growled, standing up, ready to force the girl out of the building. “I haven’t done anything, it was her who was talking all the way through my audition!” she yelled. “She had ADHD, she can’t help it!” Ashley was really struggling to keep her calm here. “That’s not my problem, it’s hers.” Peachy yelled. Jesse and Unicycle both stood up and wordlessly walked towards the stage, guiding the girl off and telling her that she would not be allowed into any of the groups. As soon as she was out of sight, Ashley turned to the Bellas “Can I…” she jabbed a thumb towards the door that Jessica had ran out of. “Go, go.” Stacie urged.   
Ashley ran out of the auditorium and looked around the halls for a minute before heading down to the track. Jessica was doing laps. Her shirt had been ditched over the railings so that she was just in her leggings and sports bra, practically sprinting around the track. Her headphones were in and her ipod was strapped to her arm. She seemed to be doing whatever it took to block out the world around her, so Ashley jumped over the railings and sat there until she was finished.   
After forty five minutes of continuous running, Jessica slowed down and walked over to where Ashley was sitting, lying down on the grass at her feet, catching her breath. Ashley had received a text from Stacie to say that the auditions were over and that when they are ready to come back to the Bella house. The Bellas were all very understanding and had been quick to jump to Jessica’s defence, Ashley made a mental note to thank them later. “Hey.” Ashley said, not moving from her position. “I’m sorry.” Jessica said in between breaths, closing her eyes. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about, that girl was a right cow and she wasn’t even that good at singing anyway!” Ashley said, jumping off the railings and lying down in the grass next to her best friend.   
They lay there for a while, just staring at the sky. It seemed to calm Jessica right down, somewhere along the lines, Ashley had grabbed her hand. “We should go back to the house.” Jessica finally whispered, her breathing under control. There was a sheen of sweat on her entire body from the combination of the running and the stress. “Are you ready?” Ashley asked her, standing up and offering a hand. Jessica accepted it and used Ashley as an anchor to get to her feet.   
Back at the house, the Bellas were nervously waiting in the front room on the couches for Jessica and Ashley’s return. Eventually they heard the front door shut and span around to see the two of them walk through the door. “I’m really sorry, you guys.” Jessica said, scratching her fingers and looking down at the floor, shuffling her feet. “Stop.” Beca said. Jessica looked up. “You can’t apologise for something that wasn’t your fault. Any time you need a hand or you’re having one of those days, just tell us, or at least one of us. We’re a family, man, we help each other out!” Beca smiled. “I love you guys.” Jessica beamed as the Bellas all squashed into a group hug. 

Two Years Later  
The new Bella was a fantastic singer, Emily. Jessica didn’t even have to sit through hours of auditions for her to join the Bellas, which is always a bonus. She had settled in incredibly well and was now fully used to life in the Bella household. Jessica, Ashley and Emily were all in the kitchen, Jessica was sat at the kitchen island trying to read the information on her musical theatre practitioner. She pushed her glassed up on top of her head and rubbed her eyes, the words weren’t behaving. ADHD and dyslexia often went hand in hand, so Jessica struggled with the literacy side of her degree. It was one of the reasons she liked reading sheet music, the notes stayed on the page.  
“Ashley could you pass me the filters please.” Jessica said, looking over to Ashley who was also studying. “Yeah, hang on.” Ashley scooted her chair back and pulled out the stationary drawer. “What colour?” she asked, looking up at Jessica, who paused for a second before answering. “Pink please.” Ashley pulled the pink overlay out from the drawer and handed it over to Jessica, who carefully placed it over the top of her revision book.   
“What are they for?” Emily asked with genuine interest. The kid was doing psychology so Jessica tried to help as much as she could. “I have dyslexia, triggered by the ADHD, the colour filters help the words stay on the page, I don’t know the science behind it, but it works for me.” Jessica explained, using her hands to animate her point.

Jessica heard her alarm go off the next day and groaned as she hit it. Ashley woke up at the same time and sat up to look at Jessica, climbing out of her own bed and stretching. “Coffee?” she asked Jessica as she slid on a pair of flip flops to head downstairs to the kitchen. “Yes please.” Jessica replied quietly. She had barely gotten any sleep last night, she struggled getting to sleep most nights but last night was particularly bad so she had only gotten around three hours kip.   
Jessica pulled on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and followed Ashley downstairs into the kitchen. Emily was there trying to light the hob to make her oatmeal. “Jessica, could you show me how to light the hob please?” Jessica sat cross legged in the middle of the kitchen island, scrunching her hair into a pony tail. “I’m really sorry, Emily but I don’t know how. I’ve never trusted myself with gas stuff, I usually forget that I’ve turned stuff on so I never learnt how to use it.” Just as Jessica finished speaking, Ashley leaned over from the sink and flicked the stove on. 

All of the Bellas were at an a capella party, this time they had all come prepared for Chloe’s drunken antics and had all agreed that if any of them jumped in the pool, the rest would follow. Soon enough, the majority of the Bellas were drunk or at least tipsy. “Hey, Ashley,” Jessica started, neither of them had been drinking so they were both sober as day. “wouldn’t it be funny if I jumped in the pool.” Jessica smiled, putting down her drink. “If you go, the rest of us follow and it’s going to be us who have to get everyone home tonight.” Ashley said, raising an eyebrow at Jessica. “Go for it.”  
Jessica looked over to the other side of the pool. Bumper was stood there, chatting up some poor girl. “Ready, aim, fire.” Jessica whispered before kicking off her shoes and running at the pool, dive bombing, soaking Bumper and his stupid little campus security Segway. As promised, the rest of the Bellas followed and soon enough, the entire party was in the pool.  
Ashley swam over to Jessica and stood on her tippie toes to keep her head above the water. Jessica was grinning from ear to ear. “It worked.” Ashley laughed, bobbing up and down. Jessica jumped up and forward, landing with her arms around Ashley’s neck, quickly closing the space between her and Ashley until their lips met. Ashley was the first to pull away. “What was that?” Jessica gave her signature smile. “Impulse.”


	7. Take Me Or Leave Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica and Ashley first meet, all because of a certain song from Rent.

Jessica Smith had always loved musical theatre, it was her thing, growing up. It was her first day at Barden, she was heading over to the little on campus theatre when she heard someone singing. “A tiger in a cage, will never see the sun. This diva needs her stage, baby let’s have fun!” a backing track was coming out of the speakers and Jessica decided to wait in the wings and watch. There was just one girl. She was about the same height as Jessica with dark curly hair and an incredibly powerful voice. “Who? Who’s in your bed? Kiss pookie.” Jessica saw her opportunity.   
She stepped out of the wings and started singing “I look before I leap, I love margins and discipline. I make lists in my sleep, baby, what’s my sin?” The girl looked surprised at first, but then the surprised look quickly turned into an impressed look. The girl played up to Jessica’s singing with all of the right lines. Jessica pointed a finger at herself and then pointed upwards to signal that she’d take the higher harmony, the girl nodding in agreement. “take me baby… or leave me! Guess I’m leaving! I’m gone!” they both finished the number before collapsing into a fit of giggles.  
“I’m Jessica.” She introduced herself, sticking a hand out towards the girl. “Ashley,” the girl responded, shaking her hand. “you have an amazing voice!” Ashley laughed, walking over to the piano and sitting on it, taking out a bottle of water. “Oh, thank you, as do you, I wouldn’t have joined in otherwise!”  
From that moment on, Jessica and Ashley were inseparable, they were always together, singing, studying, eating, you name it, they were doing it together. All because of that first time Jessica heard Ashley sing.


	8. The Night It All Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica and Ashley have never been a fan of parties, this time it's no different. Though this time, something comes of it.

The Bellas didn’t have parties too often, but when they did, they were huge. Because of the attention they had been getting in the local media, everybody wanted to turn up to their parties, not just the usual acapella nerds. Practically everyone had one of Chloe’s colour coded cups in their hands; red for on the pull, green for taken, purple for it’s complicated and blue for don’t even talk to me. Jessica and Ashley both decided to stay away from the cups all together and both had a bottle of beer in their hand. They made conversation with a couple of people, mainly Trebles and the occasional obnoxious frat guy with a red cup. Some super fan was in the corner trying to get Beca to watch him do the cup song and Amy was attempting to belay herself down the balcony. Absolute carnage.   
“I think I’m going to grab a few more bottles and head back to our room.” Ashley shouted over the music, jabbing a thumb towards the stairs. “Yeah, ok, mind if I follow?” Jessica said, trying to cup her hands over her mouth in an attempt to make herself louder. Ashley nodded and pushed her way into the kitchen. There was no way that they would be able to push through to the fridge, so Jessica beckoned for Ashley to follow her through the door to the basement. The basement was where they kept all of their party supplies, so it was filled with crates and barrels of multiple different drinks. Ashley could tell that it was going to be a loud night, so she grabbed a four pack of beer and a bottle of rum while Jessica picked up a couple of bottles of Coke Zero.   
The two of them ran up the stairs so that they wouldn’t have anyone asking for a drink and burst into their room, collapsing on their beds with the various bottles still in their hands. “I’m definitely not going to bed yet.” Jessica shook her head. It wasn’t that late on into the night. Beca always started the parties early in the hope that people would leave early, but it never worked out, so they just ended up with super long parties. “No, me neither, want to watch a film?” Ashley screwed up her face to amplify the question. “Definitely, I’ll push the beds together, you choose.   
Jessica had pushed the two beds together so they sat in the middle of the room, looking at the television suspended on the wall in front of them. The Bellas had put a lot of their prize money in kitting out the house, so each room had a little TV for their inhabitants to share. “Which one, Mean Girls or Fast Five?” Ashley said, holding up the two DVDs. Jessica pointed at Fast Five and watched as Ashley slotted it into the TV. “Ooh, actually, I’m quickly going to get into something a little comfier.” Jessica exclaimed, clicking her fingers as she rushed over to her drawer to source a huge, fluffy, chunky hoodie and some pyjama shorts.   
When she came back out of the bathroom, she saw that Ashley had gotten into a pair of pyjama bottoms and a tank top and was already sat on the bed, under the covers, pouring out a rum and coke for the both of them.   
Two bottles of beer and a rum and coke later, Jessica and Ashley were watching the final scene of the film. Jessica loved cars, they always reminded her of her Grandad and how he had that Mustang that he loved taking apart and improving. As soon as they had met, Jessica introduced Ashley to the franchise and it had sort of been their film series of choice (if you ignore the musicals).   
“Ashley, do you know what I want to do?” Jessica leaned over, simultaneously rolling onto her front. “What?” Ashley narrowed her eyes, playfully, shuffling onto her side so that her hand was supporting her head. “This.” Jessica sprung forward and kissed Ashley straight on the lips. Taken aback at first, Ashley decided to make the most of it and return the gesture, to say the least they two of them were fairly tipsy.   
Jessica woke up the next morning splayed out over her bed with her hair in her eyes and a banging headache. When she sat up, she realised that she was in a scooped, loose fitting cotton crop top and her pyjama shorts. Looking over to her left she saw Ashley, face down in the pillow, still fast asleep. She remembered what happened last night… “Aaaah… great.” She sighed. Jessica grabbed the left over rum and a hoodie before heading downstairs to see the state of the house.   
It wasn’t that bad, there were cups everywhere but nobody had thrown up in the carpet, there was no drawings on the walls and only one little area of the couch that had cheese puffs mashed into them. It could definitely be a lot worse. Smelling food, Jessica padded her way into the kitchen to find Stacie making something in a frying pan. Hearing Jessica walk in, Stacie spun around, grabbing a bottle of water from the side and handing it over to the blonde. “Hydrate, it’ll make you feel better.” She said as Jessica parked herself on one of the stools at the kitchen island. “Thanks.” Jessica took a big swig of the water and rested her head on the counter, allowing her eyes to close for a millisecond before snapping her head back up. “You want a frittata?” Stacie asked as she flipped one over in the frying pan. “Yes, please, all I want is food right now!” Jessica laughed, gratefully receiving the fresh one that Stacie had just shuffled onto a plate.   
“How come you’re up so early… and coping so well?” Jessica asked as she swallowed down her frittata. “I have class at eleven, didn’t want to be hungover for it. There always needs to be someone to look after the other hungover messes in the morning!” Stacie laughed as there was a loud sizzle from the frying pan. “From what I can remember, it’s usually you and Ashley.” Stacie mused, sitting down at the island opposite Jessica. “Yeah, we had a fair amount to drink last night.” Jessica grinned sheepishly. Usually after a party, Ashley would go out and get a selection of smoothies from the local juice bar while Jessica cooked either pancakes or bacon and eggs depending on her mood.   
“I could have told you that you and Ashley had a lot to drink last night for multiple reasons, the first being the fact that you weren’t down here before me this morning, the second being that you are wolfing that frittata down like it’s you last meal and the third being the kissy kissy noises that I heard from yours and Ashley’s room last night.” Stacie smirked. Jessica pulled a face. Nope, it definitely happened. “It’s never happened before, it was the first time anything has ever happened… and I remember making the first move.” Jessica put her face in her hands before sitting up and taking a few more gulps of her water while she watched Stacie literally give a nod of approval. “I never thought it would be you who initiated anything, I had my money on Ashley.” Stacie got out of her chair and threw the dishes in the sink, turning on the tap. “I’ll do it,” Jessica said, making her wat over to the sink and taking over the washing up. “so you guys expected it?” Jessica asked as she drizzled washing up liquid on the load. “Oh sure. It was only a matter of time.” Stacie grinned as she hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter. “I just hope she doesn’t regret it.” Jessica sighed as she put the plate in the drying rack. “Regret what?”  
Jessica spun around to see Ashley stood in the doorway with her fluffy hoodie from the night before and a pair of slipper socks. Stacie wordlessly left the room and as soon as she was behind Ashley, she turned around and mouthed ‘good luck’ to Jessica. “Uh, last night.” Jessica prompted as she assumed the position that Stacie had just vacated on the kitchen counter. “Wait what happened last night?” Ashley said as she pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, unscrewing the top and taking in a mouthful. “We uh… we made out.” Jessica said. As soon as Ashley heard the words ‘made out’ she spat the water out in the most theatrical way possible. “I’m totally screwing with you,” she laughed as she saw the look of horror on Jessica’s face that soon melted into a light laugh “I know we did and trust me, I definitely don’t regret it.” Ashley put the bottle down, moving over to where Jessica was sat, putting a hand on either side of the kitchen counter. Ashley paused for a second and then moved in to a kiss, sidling up to Jessica.   
The two of them heard a sudden kerfuffle a few metres away from the door and jumped apart, looking to see the Bellas, all of them vaguely resembling zombies, exchanging money. They guessed that it really was just a matter of time.


	9. It's A Close Minded World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, most same sex couples will experience homophobia, Jessica and Ashley are just lucky that they are surrounded by people that will do whatever it takes to support them. This one includes a little fictional family that I made up for Jessica, for more on them, see my larger work, From The Start. (Trigger warning in notes).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Homophobia. There are still a lot of very closed minded people in the world and I think that it's important that it doesn't go ignored.

Jessica and Ashley sat next to each other on the grass of the school field with Noah, Hope and Emma. It was a warm day and they were all dressed in shorts and light t-shirts. Jessica and Ashley were on the same blanket, with Jessica leaning into Ashley, messing around with a blade of grass.   
“It’s not quite right, that, is it.” A lad said as he walked past. Noah turned his head to see that the boy and his mate were looking at Jessica and Ashley. “I know yeah, two girls, I mean they could be with us instead but nah, they go for each other. Not right.” His mate said in agreement. Noah stood up and walked a few paces forward over to the two boys. “What did you two just say?” Noah got into their faces. “Ellen and Portia over there, it’s wrong.” The first one smirked with a look that distinctly gave Noah a ‘what are you going to do about it’ sort of vibe. 

Noah smiled for a second before thrusting his head forward. His forehead made direct contact with the first lads nose, sending him tumbling to the floor. The second one realised what was happening and drew his arm back to punch Noah. Before her could get a shot in, Noah grabbed the back of his neck and brought it down onto his knee, throwing him backwards before landing a punch right into the soft part of the lad’s stomach. 

By then, the first one was back up and making a charge for Noah, the rest of the group had now noticed what was going on. Jessica and Ashley jumped up and ran over to the scene unfolding between the three boys. “Noah, what the hell are you doing!” Jessica screamed as she saw her brother land another punch in one of the boy’s stomachs. “Ok.” Ashley sighed as she ran into the scene. “Ashley, what… what is going on?!” Jessica put her hands to her temples as she watched her girlfriend run into the fight. One of the boys pushed Ashley out of the way in an attempt to get to Noah, Ashley stumbled back but gained her balance just as Mr Hardman and Mr Janney ran over and ripped the three boys apart. Mr Janney was physically holding Noah back, who was still trying to jump at the lads who were being escorted off the field. 

Outside Mr McIlroy’s office was a sorry sight. Noah had come off better than the other two, but he still had a large gash above his eyebrow, a scratch down his face and a split lip as well as a load of developing bruises. The first boy, whose name was Dan had a black eye and was still wheezing while nursing his sprained wrist. Harry, however had come off the worst of the three. He had his arm in a sling with a fractured collarbone, a bruised jaw, three broken fingers and a broken knuckle as well as a cut down his arm that was wrapped in a bandage. The only two who had gotten away free were Jessica and Ashley, who were sat either side of Noah waiting to be called into Mr McIlroy’s office. 

“Why did you start the fight, Noah?” Mr McIlroy was a pretty chilled out head, but all that meant was that he didn’t shout. “We were sitting around, and I heard them make homophobic comments about my sister and Ashley. They had it coming to them.” Noah replied calmly. This was the first time that Jessica and Ashley had actually heard why the fight had started and they were both really grateful that Noah had stood up for them. Dan and Harry sat in the corner of the room, shuffling their feet. “Dan, Harry. This isn’t the first time that you’ve been caught making comments like that, so I’m inclined to believe Mr Smith; if you want, you can deny it, but I just think that that would be and awful waste of my time.” Mr McIlroy said with a sickeningly sweet smile. The two boys sank in their chairs. 

Halle and Alex came out of Mr McIlroy’s office to greet Noah, Jessica and Ashley. The first thing that they did was give Jessica and Ashley individual hugs before pausing for a second and collectively hugging Noah. “What did he say?” Noah asked as he pulled away from the hug. “He has to suspend you for a day.” Halle grimaced. Noah nodded his head and sat back down. He had never been in trouble before. “Being honest, mate, he didn’t want to do it. He said that he understood why you did what you did but it’s the protocol.” Alex said as he gently placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder, careful not to be harsh on any possible bruising. “Mr McIlroy said that he’d keep it off the record, though. He didn’t want to affect your chance of getting into the army.” Halle smiled, nudging Noah, lightly. Ashley allowed herself to smile a little. This is what she liked about the Smiths, they were a close knit family and always saw the best in things. 

Noah got up from his chair and walked over to Mr McIlroy’s door, knocking and entering once he heard the go ahead. Mr McIlroy was filling out paperwork and looked rather busy but as soon as he spotted Noah, he sat back in his chair and pushed his glasses on top of his head. “I just wanted to say thank you, sir, for keeping my suspension off of my permanent record.” Noah nodded. “You’re a good kid, Noah, I can see why you did it. My brother was gay. He was bullied all the way through school and eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. He had a breakdown, hasn’t been the same since. I always thought to myself that if I stood up for him then nothing would have happened, so if I’m honest, I admire you a little… but don’t tell anyone I just said that.” Mr McIlroy said with a wink. Noah smiled and said his final thanks before heading out of the office and back home. 

“You don’t care when people say stuff like that, do you?” Ashley mused. Jessica and Ashley were sat on Jessica’s bed, watching Mama Mia on a laptop. Ashley had been staying over all that week because her parents were away for the week on business and she hated being in the house on her own. “Me? Nah. It just shows that they’re weak and probably incredibly insecure. I can understand why people would care though.” This was the sort of answer that Ashley had expected from Jessica, she always thought about other people’s thoughts and feelings instead of her own. Ashley snuggled back down into the bed, leaning her head on Jessica’s shoulder and interlocking her fingers into Jessica’s. 

About ten minutes later there was a knock at the landing trapdoor. Jessica yelled for whoever it was to come in. The trap door popped open and Alex stuck his head through, before using the ladder to hoist the rest of himself up. He was a big guy, tall and muscly, so getting through the multiple trap doors in the house wasn’t always easy. “Mind if I have a word with you two girls?” He asked, gesturing towards one of the stools in the corner of the room. “Sure.” Jessica smiled and Ashley simultaneously replied with “Go right ahead.”   
Alex sat down and smiled. “I love it when you two do that, speak at the same time. About today, I don’t want you two to ever listen to anyone who says that type of thing, ok? There are some people in the world that take pleasure out of making other people unhappy, those two boys today, they were two of those people. No matter what anyone says in life, you two need to do you. Ignore the hatred, focus on the love that you get, from each other, from me and Halle, Ashley, from your parents, from Noah, Caleb and Levi. And just know that that can over power whatever hatred comes your way… I just wanted you two to know that.” Alex finished with a sigh and shuffled in his seat. Jessica looked over at Ashley. There was a single tear streaming down her face. Jessica reached over and brushed it away with her thumb, smiling as Ashley looked her in the eyes. They both hopped off the bed and enveloped Alex in a huge hug. 

The next day, the girls had woken up and were lying in bed together. Alex and Halle were pretty lax with the two of them, knowing that they wouldn’t do anything extreme, so they were allowed to share a bed while Ashley was staying over. Ashley aspired to be like Alex and Halle when she was a parent.   
Jessica and Ashley made their way downstairs for breakfast where they spotted Noah sat at the table with Levi on his lap, helping him cut up his pancakes. Caleb was sat next to him, sprinkling sugar on his. Jessica leant down and dropped a kiss on each of her brother’s cheeks before giving her parents a hug. Ashley ruffled the two little one’s hair and gave Alex and Halle a hug before accepting a bowl of muesli off of Jessica. “Ugh, I love you guys!” she smiled, nudging Noah slightly and looking Jessica in the eyes. It didn’t need to be spoken, everyone in the room felt the same way.


	10. A Jessley Wake Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica and Ashley first met at auditions and they've been waking each other up practically ever since.

“Hey, I just wanted to say, you were amazing up there!” Jessica approached the brunette who was sitting behind stage a few metres away from everyone else. “I was just deciding when to come over and say that to you, you have an amazing voice.” Ashley replied, wringing out her hands. She didn’t usually get nervous for things, get the shakes, but that audition was so intense. “What’s your name?” They both said, simultaneously.   
“Jessica.”  
“Ashley.  
The two laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, Ashley.” Jessica laughed, sticking out her hand towards her newly found friend. “And you.” Ashley replied, shaking Jessica’s hand. The two of them sat together for the rest of the day, waiting to see if they had been accepted into any of the groups. In any other circumstance, they might have been a bit worried to have a bag thrown over their head but in ths one it came as a relief, it meant that they had bee accepted into one of the a capella groups… they just didn’t know which one.   
Jessica was a soprano, Ashley was an alto, it seemed fitting. The rehearsals were intense, the costumes were intense, some of the people… were intense but everyone seemed nice if you looked past their outer shell. Jessica and Ashley stuck together. They were months into being in The Bellas. All the other girls had fairly big personalities, so it was easy for them to just shrink into the background and not get too involved with the drama. They picked up the choreography pretty easily, too.

“Hey, Jessica!” Ashley yelled softly. Jessica didn’t think that yelling softly was possible, but apparently it is. Jessica threw her hoodie into her sports bag and then turned around to see Ashley jogging towards her. Today had been a leg day, so a jog was a hugely valiant effort and Jessica was fairly impressed. Ashley reached her and stopped with a little sigh. “I’m worn through, I thought maybe a coffee might give me a little hype to get through the rest of the day, fancy joining?” Ashley said, panting slightly, her legs were killing her. Jessica’s face lit up like a set of Christmas lights, her smile was one of her trademark features and even after the day that they’d had, it didn’t disappoint.

The managed to get the comfy seats at the coffee shop, they were little, leather and padded with bit supporting arms. The girls could have fallen asleep on them there and then. Jessica came over with their tray. There were two lattes, one caramel, one hazelnut and a little gingerbread each. “What are they?” Ashley asked, pointing towards six little cups. Jessica grinned and set their lattes down on the table. “Black espressos.” She stuck her tongue out absentmindedly as she set the little cups down on the table. What Ashley had now realised was that they weren’t little cups but they were paper shot glasses full of coffee. She had wanted to make it through the day awake, but not the night. “Right then, three each, one after the other.” Jessica said excitedly, handing Ashley one of the coffee shots and picking one up for herself. “You’re nuts!” Ashley laughed, raising the cup as a toast before knocking it back, moving to grab the next one, and then the one after that. 

“What’s with the coffee shots then?” Ashley said as they slowly walked back to campus. It was cold, it was December, a couple of weeks until Christmas. They were arm in arm as they strolled slowly. They were going slower that they would like, but a combination of the cold and the muscle aches meant that they could go no faster than the speed than a slow stroll. “Well, I have to get my kicks somehow, I don’t drink, so it makes a good substitute!” Jessica laughed. Jessica was always laughing. There was always a smile on her face, never a frown of a hint of even the slightest negative emotion. “You don’t drink?” Although it was the law that you’re now allowed to drink until you’re twenty one, blah blah blah, no college student obeyed those rules… well, basically none of them. “Nope, not planning on it, either.” Jessica said, raising her eyebrows slightly as she said it, as if that would further her point. “Why’s that then?” Ashley asked, nudging her to the side, pulling her back in just before she could fall of the kirb. “Just never fancied it, plus I sort of like the idea of being the one who takes care of everyone while they’re blotto.” This conversation was getting weird but at the same time, Ashley thought that it was sweet. She knew that if and when she eventually had that situation at a party where she’d had too much to drink, she could definitely rely on Jessica to help out.

It turns out that that situation came to Ashley a lot sooner than they had expected. The next day they were all at an a capella party. For a Bella, an a capella party consisted of a lot of drinking and fending off Trebles who were trying to pick them off one by one so that they wouldn’t even have enough singers to qualify for the ICCAs. Jessica had stuck to the cran section of the vodka crans but Ashley had gone full out. By the end of the night, Jessica had Ashley’s arm slung over her shoulders, carrying her back to her own dorm. Ashley was a sleepy drunk, the best type. They didn’t get too hyper, they didn’t cry, once they had drunk too much they just slept, which meant that there were rarely any consequences. Jessica let herself into her room and dumped Ashley on her bed, there was no way that she could get herself into bed clothes, so Jessica just found a baggy crew neck fleece and threw it over Ashley’s head so that she’d at least be warm, pulling a foam mattress from underneath her bed, she set up camp and got herself to sleep. 

“Morning.” Jessica said softly as Ashley woke up, rubbing her eyes and squinting so that she didn’t take in too much light. On the bedside table was a steaming latte in a takeaway cup with a raisin and cinnamon bagle and some asprin. Jessica was sat at her desk doing some work, gently humming to herself. “Asprin’s on the side.” She said, pointing to the little packet that Ashley had previously spotted. She popped a couple out and swallowed them, graciously receiving the glass of water that Jessica had passed her. “Ugh, what even happened last night?” Ashley moaned, rubbing her head. Jessica let out a little laugh. “4 vodka crans, three to one vodka to cran, ten shots of tequila and one rum and coke… that is what happened.” Ashley groaned and flopped back onto the pillow before the realisation dawned on her. “Wait, this isn’t my room.” She said, furrowing her brow. Jessica did a 360 in her chair, stopping herself against the wall and pushing off so that her wheelie chair would shoot across the room to the bed where Ashley was lying down in. “It’s my room.” She said, tearing a little piece of the bagle and popping it in her mouth with a smile. “Now eat that, before it goes cold.” She added, pointing to the bagle. Ashley wasn’t done yet, she wanted to know how she had ended up here. “So, what you took me here and let me crash?” Ashley knew that this was obvious but she had hangover brain and the concept was somewhat difficult to grasp. “I mean, yeah, sure, it’s what friends are for, right?”

Six Years Later

Ashley felt a light kiss on her cheek. “Ashley, baby, hey.” She felt another. Experimentally Ashley opened one eye, spotting Jessica she opened the other and smiled, hiding herself under the duvet so that only her eyes and the top of her head were exposed. Jessica grinned widely. “Morning.” Jessica said, quietly enough so that Ashley’s raging hangover headache wouldn’t go into overdrive. “Go on, tell me.” Ashley muffled. Jessica pulled a brown bag out from behind her back. They were in the South of France so Ashley was hoping… yes! A croissant. “Only one thing. Absynthe.” Jessica said, slightly grimacing. Ashley immediately knew that all of the Bellas would be dead to the world right now and if they were awake (which was very unlikely) they would be nursing a cup of coffee that Jessica had left by their bedside table. “No, why… why would we think that that was a good idea? Who was the initiator?” Ashley always needed to know who’s idea it was so that she’d know who had the worst hangover. “Amy.” Jessica chuckled, checking her phone to see if there was any updates on the group chat. None of the other Bellas had checked in on it, so Jessica knew that they were still asleep, she left a little message to tell them to check in their microwave for a pastry.   
Jessica hopped over Ashley and sat on her side of the bed, wriggling underneath the covers. Ashley grabbed her arm and pulled it over her, the both of them nodding back to sleep.


	11. Ice Cream & Fries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If someone gets Jessica ice cream and fries she will love them for ever.

Jessica lay upside down, dangling over the edge of her bed. “I have all of this studying to do but I just really don’t want to do any of it.” She groaned, furrowing her brow. Ashley was sat on her bed with a pen in her mouth, scanning over a page of her text book. “You’ll have to one day.” Ashley grinned, flashing a glance over at Jessica who huffed and sat up, bright red face and hair falling in every direction. “I know. I just can’t bring myself to do it and it doesn’t help that I’m hungry.” This was something Ashley could relate to. Yesterday they had found out that there was no food in the house because Amy had forgotten that it was her turn to go and get the groceries. 

“I swear, if anyone got me ice cream and fries right now I would literally love them forever!” Jessica closed her eyes to picture it. Ashley pressed her lips together. “I have to pop out for about half an hour.” She said while packing her books away, shoving them in her bedside drawer. 

Ashley ran downstairs and pulled on her coat, hopping in the Bella’s van and driving to Costco. There she bought a huge, industrial sized tub of ice cream along with everything that Amy had forgotten. On the way home, she quickly pulled into McDonald’s and bought two large boxes of fries. She put them in the front seat and turned the air conditioning right up. The ice cream was in the freezer box so that it wouldn’t melt. 

Ashley pulled into the drive and shuffled her way into the house with the bags, dumping them onto the kitchen counter before grabbing the fries and ice cream from the van and running upstairs. She knocked on the door, it was her room too, but always knock. “Come in!” A cheery voice called. 

Jessica was sat on her bed, skimming over her music text book, at least she was making the effort. Ashley pulled the ice cream and fries out from behind her back and held the items out towards Jessica. Jessica’s face widened and she threw herself at Ashley, squeezing the living daylights out of her. “I made my promise, I’ll love you forever!!” Jessica squealed, laughing slightly as Ashley opened the tub and pushed it towards her.


	12. Plus One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley’s family have been nagging her for weeks to get a plus one for her niece’s baptism...

“Oh and remember to get your plus one!” Ashley’s brother sped down the phone as he hung up. She leaned back in her swivel chair and sighed. She was going to have to bite the bullet and ask her. 

“Hey, Jessica...” Ashley approached her in the kitchen as she put the last plate in the drying rack. “Oh hey, Ashley!” She said, spinning round on the ball of her foot “My niece is getting baptised in three days and I’m her godmother so I have to fly back home tomorrow, they asked me to bring someone so I was wondering if you’d go with me?” Ashley rushed, managing to pass it off as impatience opposed to nerves. “Yeah sure I’d love to!” Jessica smiled, pulling off her rubber gloves, “I’ll transfer the money for the plane ticket tonight!” She said. Ashley’s eyes widened. “Oh no it’s fine, they’re already booked and my dad travels a fair bit for work so he has loads of miles, they’re on the airline, you don’t have to pay anything!” Ashley waved her hands in front of her. “Well if you’re sure, I’ll start packing!” Jessica beamed. 

“Remind me of everyone’s names again.” Jessica said to Ashley, they were sat on the plane in the last hour of the journey having gone through all of the decent in flight entertainment. “My brother’s Jason, his daughter is Cora and then my parents are Lil and David.” Ashley nodded, Jessica had an awful memory but there was only a couple to remember. “Jason, Cora and Mr and Mrs Jones, got it. Is Cora’s mom around?” Jessica said before pausing “That was a bit personal, I’m sorry.” She fiddled with a loose thread on her tshirt. “No, no, it’s fine. Her mom’s name was Giovanna but everyone called her Ginny, it’s Cora’s first name, she’s named after her. Her and Jason got married really young, straight out of high school. She had a really difficult labour, there was a lot of complications. She was actually training to be a midwife so she knew what was going on. She said to the doctor that if it was a choice between mother and baby to save the baby... that’s what happened. She got to hold her first, passed away ten minutes later.” Ashley said softly. Jason had been struggling ever since, it had been hard on the whole family. Ashley had known Ginny for most of her childhood, Jason was older and him and Ginny had been together since they were fifteen. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Jessica said softly, grabbing Ashley’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “It’s ok, Ginny just proves how much love is in the world, she’d be ok with it.” Ashley smiled as she squeezed back. Jessica and Ashley thanked the cab driver as her handed them their bags. They walked up to the little house and rang the bell. Soon enough the door opened to reveal a tall, muscular man holding a baby in his free arm. “Hi, hi, hi!” Ashley said as she kissed her brother on the cheek and swept the baby out of his arms. “You must be the plus one, it’s lovely to meet you, Jessica!” Jason said warmly as he pulled Jessica into a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you too!” And what about this little angel, you’re just gorgeous!” Jessica cooed at Cora, shaking her chubby little hand. “She must get it off her mom!” Ashley grinned as she flashed Jason a look. Jessica looked for a reaction from Jason, but the one she got was a laugh. “Ashley, have you figured out what you’re going to do for sleeping arrangements, yet?” Jason said as he handed them both a mug of coffee. “Nope, not yet but I’ll probably take the couch, Jessica can have the bed in the spare room.” Ashley shrugged as she watched Jessica playing on the floor with Cora. She was propped up on her elbows on the floor, playing peek-a-boo with Cora who was bursting out in little fits of giggles and rolling round everywhere. “I think it’s time for this one to go to bed!” Jason smiled as he lifted the sleepy baby up in the air. “Say goodbye to everyone!” He said as he manipulated her arm into a little wave, making everyone laugh. Jessica could clearly see that Jason was a fantastic dad. “Nighty night!” She smiles at the baby who flashed her one back as she was carried up the stairs. “Your room is upstairs to the left.” Ashley said, pointing upstairs. “Fab, which one are you in?” Jessica asked as she stood up off the couch. “Just here.” Ashley patted where she was sitting. “Oh no you’re not!” Jessica raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking the bed I’ll stay down here.” She said, plonking herself back down. “Fine but if you think you’re staying down here then you have another thing coming, come on, it’s a double, we can share.” Ashley reached out a hand that Jessica took. Jessica woke up the next morning and found some sweat pants from her suitcase to throw on before heading into the landing. She quickly peeked into Cora’s room to see the baby pulling herself up on the crib railing. Reaching down she picked her up and headed downstairs. Jason was in the kitchen dressed in shorts and a Nike top, the blender whizzing. He switched it off and turned around to see Jessica coming in with Cora. “Oh thank you, I was just about to go and get her!” Jason laughed. “It’s not a problem, is there anything you want me to do, I could get her breakfast?” Jessica said as she gently placed Cora in her high chair. “Could you?” Jason asked as Jessica nodded furiously. “Course.” She responded, pulling a plastic baby fork out of the drawer. “I have a premade one in the fridge, hang on.” He said, pulling out a plastic box full of what looked like red mush. “Thank you.” Jessica said as she was handed it. “Looks like you’re quite the health advocate!” Jessica smiled as she watched him pour the contents of the blender into a glass. “I’m a physiotherapist for sports teams so I have to keep on top of it all, really, do you want some?” He asked, holding up the jug. “Ooh yes please!” Jessica laughed as she fed Cora the first spoonful. Jason had to go to work so it was up to Jessica and Ashley to look after Cora for the day which was totally fine with them because she was super cute. The kid had all of the classic Italian traits from her mom, dark brown hair, big green eyes and impossibly long eyelashes, she did not however, have a great wardrobe, she had a dad wardrobe, so Jessica and Ashley decided to go shopping for some clothes for her, specifically a dress for her baptism the next day. “How about this one?” Ashley asked, holding up the tiny frock she had found. It was baby pink with an A line skirt. Jessica stood there with Cora rested on her hip, “What do you think, Cora?” She asked the baby who responded with a giggle and clapped happily. “I think we have our answer!” Ashley laughed. After buying the dress they went to a little ice cream place down the road and got a little pot with sprinkles for Cora, who made a right mess of it and managed to get it everywhere but her mouth. Jessica snapped a quick picture of the havoc before cleaning it all up. “How does it look?” Ashley yelled from her room. Jessica popped her head round the door to have a peek. Ashley was wearing a blue A frame dress that stopped just in the middle of her shins with cream heels. “Perfect.” Jessica nodded sincerely, stepping into the room, out of the doorway. “I like your dress!” Ashley smiled. Jessica was wearing a flowing white maxi dress that was pinched in a little at the waist and was dotted with pink roses. “Oh, thank you, it’s just the first thing that I threw into my bag, I was hoping it’d look alright!” She grinned, grabbing her bag off the bed. “Right, come on, there’s a baby that needs baptising.” She said, leaving the room and walking down the stairs.


	13. Safari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Jessica and Ashley’s honeymoon they go on a safari... 
> 
> Wow that was a really bad summary

“Ashley how hot is it going to be?!” Jessica yelled up the stairs. The previous month they had gotten married and it was time for them to go on their honeymoon. “Jess, it’s Africa!” She heard from their bedroom. “Pretty damn hot!” They were both packing last minute and literally just throwing things in bags as they had to be at the airport in an hour.  
“Have you got the tickets?” Ashley asked as they put the last bag in their taxi. “Yup!” Jessica grinned, patting her pocket. “Let’s do this.”

The two of them settled next to each other on the plane, moving the seat handle up so that they could pull a little closer together. Half way through The Time Travellers Wife, Ashley nodded off and rested against Jessica’s shoulder. Jessica just sat there, holding Ashley’s hand and smoothing circles round her palm. Soon enough they were off the plane and in their hotel room, Ashley had been right, it was boiling. It was late when they got in from the flight so they both got straight to bed. Ashley woke up first, she had gotten slightly more sleep from her little nap on the plane. She slowly got out of bed, careful not to wake Jessica and made her way towards the double doors, stepping onto the balcony to have a look at the view. It was so pretty, she could see the dusty land stretch out for miles until it reached a mountain that was covering only a little of the rising sun. Ashley felt a pair of hands snake their way around her waist. “It’s beautiful.” Jessica hummed, looking over Ashley’s shoulder to the sunrise. They got breakfast and went out to their tour, the main reason they wanted to go on a safari is because they had slashed been obsessed with the Lion King and Jessica had it in her head that they were going to see a baboon carrying a lion cub, walking with a cane. “If you look to the left, ladies and gents, you’ll see a herd of zebras, and if you have a really close look you’ll notice that some of them are only foals as some have just been born.” Jessica and Ashley stuck their heads out of the truck to see them, everything about this was better than they could have expected. They were took to the elephant sanctuary where they learnt all about them, got to feed them and petted the babies. Jessica being Jessica immediately agreed to sponsor one and then fell into one of their drinking troughs, getting absolutely soaked. Once Ashley had stopped laughing, she helped her out and dusted her off amongst small fits of giggles from them both. They got back to the hotel and flopped on a bed. Atlanta was hot but not this hot. “This has been one of the best days ever.” Ashley sighed, rolling over to look at Jessica “I want to do it all over again.” “Love you.” “Love you.”


	14. I Don’t Like It, I Love It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bellas are trying to spice up their sets for the USO tour and Ashley has a suggestion.

“Ok, we need to find a way to make our sets better, otherwise the other teams will definitely beat us, as if burning down that suite last night wasn’t bad enough, I don’t think I could cope with losing!” Aubrey was pacing back and forth, the rest of the Bellas scattered around her room, keeping their heads down. “Aubrey, chill, we can do that easily, come on guys, pitch some ideas.” Beca shrugged. Silence. Absolute dead silence. Nothing. The Bellas were drained from the events of the last few days. “Maybe we should consider-“ Beca started to speak before being silenced by a withering look from Aubrey “I swear if you suggest instruments again I will rip out your vocal chords myself.” Beca decided not to go any further, as she valued the use of speech. 

“Jess, I have an idea.” Ashley nudged Jessica. The two of them were huddled in the corner with a blanket over them, it was cold in France and they were not fans. “Tell them then, I’m sure it’ll be much better than what they have... which is precisely nothing.” Ashley smiled and sat up straight. “Guys I have an idea!” Ashley said loudly. Half of the Bellas jumped out of their skin and the other half didn’t even look up. “I’m all ears, Jessica.” Aubrey said confidently “Well for a start, I’m Ashley.” Ashley nodded, literally one time she forgot her name... once. “Oh, sorry, I’ll get it eventually,” Aubrey pushed her palm into the middle of her forehead “go on.” She said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “We need a big finish for I Don’t Like It, I Love It and I think I know what we could do. Jessica can belt a high D.” Jessica’s eyes shot open as she jumped up straight in surprise “Ashley this is not what I meant!” Ashley looked at Jessica and then back at the group who were now giving their full attention. “After the breakdown, have Jessica sustain a D and do a riff at the end, she can do it, I’ve heard her.” Ashley then turned to give Jessica her full attention. “Can you?” Chloe asked, completely seriously with a curious tone. “I mean... yeah.” Jessica huddled herself up into the blanket, she wasn’t used to this much being focused on her. “Dude, why wouldn’t you say before?!” Beca smiled incredulously, flipping open her laptop lid to look at the set. “Ok, I’m going to play the demo track and I want you to do that.” Beca hit play and all of the Bellas sang along with their parts. When it came to it, Jessica hit all of the notes right including the big riff at the end, leaving the Bellas to sweep their jaws off the floor. “That’s so going in!” Chloe beamed, rolling onto her front kicking her legs behind her. “Also that high harmony in the duet with Amy that I haven’t given to anyone yet, that’s yours.” Beca said, jotting it all down on a notepad. “I... uh... thank you!!” Jessica didn’t quite know what to say, but it was finally a breakthrough after six years and she knew that she couldn’t be prouder of herself.


End file.
